Welcome to the ISCB Community News Blog

This blog collects news, announcements or other information which could be of interest to our ISCB members. We are a group ISCB members who volunteer to populate this blog on a regular basis. In case you want to become an "ISCB-News Reporter" yourself, let us know: contact ISCBDon't repost copyrighted content! The guidelines are:- Include a link to the source page- Include a short summary about the article. You can quote up to ONE paragraph from the original story, but not more- Don't repost an entire articles originating from another source- Never post content without attribution — always include the sourceTo post a news, please use this form.

Monday, December 7, 2009

CALL FOR CHAPTERS Proposal Submission Deadline: -Extended- December 30, 2009 Computational and Data Grids: Principles, Designs, and Applications A book edited by Dr.Nikolaos Preve National Technical University of Athens, Greece

To be published by IGI Global: http://www.igi-global.com/requests/details.asp?ID=748

Introduction Grid computing is the next generation information technology infrastructure that promises to transform the way organizations and individuals compute, communicate and collaborate. Grid computing is an evolution of distributed computing and it refers to a large-scale high-performance computing which combines distributed heterogeneous computing resources and the result is a unique large virtual supercomputer with a vast amount of shared processing power and data storage. Considering the enormous amount of these underutilized computing resources, the necessity of a grid infrastructure is compulsory. A computational grid provides access to users who want to utilize the shared processing resources in order to efficiently apply high throughput applications on distributed machines. The second most common shared resource used in a grid is data storage and it is known as data grid. This type of grid provides distributed storage capacity such as attached memory to the processor, hard di sk drives or other types of permanent storage. Grid computing can assist grid users in order to utilize to the maximum computing resources by applying tasks and solving a scientific or technical problem that requires a great number of computer processing cycles or the need to process large amounts of data.

Objective of the Book This book aims to provide relevant theoretical frameworks and will cover the latest empirical research findings in the area of grid computing. The goal of this book is to represent theoretical frameworks, methodologies, implementations, and cutting edge research findings with a critical perspective bridging the gap between academia and the latest achievements of the computer industry. It will be written for professionals, as well as students, who are involved or interested in the study, use, design, and development of grid computing and want to improve and empower their understanding of it. Also, this book aims to help researchers and developers understand the basics of the field, to highlight the various developments over the years in the field by giving an in depth analysis of grid networks.

Target Audience The target audience of this book will be composed of professionals, engineers, researchers and students who are interested and working in the field of grid computing. Moreover, the book will provide insights and can serve as both literature at an undergraduate level and as an overview of the area.

Submission Procedure Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before December 30, 2009, a 1-2 page chapter clearly explaining the mission and concerns of the proposed chapter. We also highly encourage early full chapter submissions. Please include the title of the book in the subject line of your e-mail. Authors will be notified by January 15, 2010 about the status of their proposals and will be sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by March 31, 2010 or earlier. All submitted chapters must not have been published elsewhere and will undergo a double-blind peer review by at least two referees. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

Publisher This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the "Information Science Reference" (formerly Idea Group Reference), "Medical Information Science Reference," "Business Science Reference," and "Engineering Science Reference" imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2010.

Important Dates December 30, 2009: Proposal Submission Deadline January 15, 2010: Notification of Acceptance March 31, 2010: Full Chapter Submission June 15, 2010: Review Results Returned August 15, 2010: Final Chapter Submission September 15, 2010: Final Deadline

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

In its December issue the Annals of Applied Statistics feature an article on reproducible research in high-throughput biology by Keith A. Baggerly and Kevin R. Coombes of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. In their article they describe how they used "Forensic Bioinformatics" to identify an array of problems - in many cases simple errors - in published studies that are the basis of several ongoing clinical trials. These trials have now been suspended, as the findings by Baggerly and Coombes suggest that patients could be harmed.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

18 November 2009—Scientists and engineers at IBM’s Almaden Research Center, in San Jose, Calif., announced today at the Supercomputing Conference (SC09) in Portland, Ore., that they have created the largest brain simulation to date on a supercomputer. The number of neurons and synapses in the simulation exceed those in a cat’s brain; previous simulations have reached only the level of mouse and rat brains. Experts predict that the simulation will have profound effects in two arenas: It will lead to a better understanding of how the brain’s architecture leads to cognition, and it should inspire the design of electronics that mimic the brain’s as-yet-unmatched ability to do complex computation and learn using a small volume of hardware that consumes little power......"

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

"Technological advances in high-throughput DNA sequencing have opened up the possibility of determining how living things are related by analyzing the ways in which their genes have been rearranged on chromosomes. However, inferring such evolutionary relationships from rearrangement events is computationally intensive on even the most advanced computing systems available today....."

"Computational methods that reliably predict the biological activities of compounds have long been sought. The validation of one such method suggests that in silico predictions for drug discovery have come of age....."

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The Second RECOMB satellite conference on Bioinformatics Education (RECOMB-BE) will be held at the Center for Algorithmic and Systems Biology at the University of California, San Diego, May 22-23, 2010.

The selected papers and abstracts in each category will be invited either for oral or for poster presentations. Note that the acceptance of poster abstract is conditional on at least one of its authors pre-registering for the RECOMB-BE workshop electronically.

Bioinformatics Education papers should be submitted via the RECOMB BE web site and must be received by January 5, 2010. The papers should focus on a biological problem and on didactic ways to convey computational ideas that can be used to address it. The papers should be self-contained and should be written in the way that it can be understood by advanced undergraduate biology students. Papers focusing solely on computational problems and papers focusing solely on biological problems will not be considered. RECOMB BE imposes no restrictions on format, length, notation, etc. but rather let the contributors choose the style they feel is the most appropriate. However, we anticipate that each contributed paper will be at least 10 pages long.

The papers will be reviewed and the accepted papers will be published in the special Education issue of the Journal of Computational Biology (http://www.liebertpub.com/products/product.aspx?pid=31). The authors of the accepted papers will be invited to join the Bioinformatics Education Alliance that will meet in San Diego shortly before RECOMB BE with the goal to discuss the planned book "Bioinformatics for Biologists" based on the accepted papers.

Bioinformatics Education abstracts (submitted by educators) should be submitted via the RECOMB BE web site and must be received by January 20, 2010. The abstracts are at most 1 page long. The abstracts in this category can either discuss practice, challenges, and perspectives in bioinformatics education (e.g., curricula, integration of bioinformatics programs, online courses, etc.) or represent a proposal for a short 20-30 min introductory lecture aimed at undergraduates. We are specifically looking for lectures that start with a description of an interesting biological problem, e.g., "Did we evolve from Neanderthals?" and show how computational techniques solve this biological problem.

The selected papers and abstracts will be invited either for oral or for poster presentations. The acceptance of paper/abstract is conditional on at least one of its authors pre-registering for the RECOMB workshop.

Undergraduate Bioinformatics Research abstracts (submitted by undergraduates or 1st year graduate students reporting their undergraduate work) should be submitted via the RECOMB BE web site and must be received by January 20, 2010. The abstracts are at most 1 page long. The selected papers and abstracts will be invited either for oral or for poster presentations. The acceptance of paper/abstract is conditional on at least one of its authors pre-registering for the RECOMB workshop. URL: http://casb.calit2.net/bioed10/

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009 jointly to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak for the discovery of "how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase". Read more...

The 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will go to three Americans who discovered telomeres, the genetic code that protects the ends of chromosomes, and telomerase, the enzyme that assists in this process, findings that are important in the study of cancer, aging and stem cells. Read more...

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Researchers in the Jack Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz, will establish a Cancer Genome Data Analysis Center as part of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a $275 million collaborative project led by the National Cancer Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute.

The TCGA project was highlighted in a White House announcement this week of $5 billion in grants to fund cutting-edge medical research across the country as part of the economic stimulus package. ... URL: http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/news/article?ID=1793

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

When a National Academies panel was created last year to examine where to go next in life sciences, some thought it would focus on biomedicine—or merely ask for more money. So many science advocates were pleased last week when the panel called for a multidisciplinary initiative to address four major societal problems involving food, energy, the environment, and health. The report likens these goals to sending a man to the moon and the Human Genome Project.

Monday, September 28, 2009

The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) has honored two researchers in the Jack Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz with the 2009 Curt Stern Award. David Haussler, professor of biomolecular engineering, and James Kent, a research scientist in the Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering, will accept the award on October 24 during the annual meeting of the ASHG in Honolulu.

Microsoft Research announced recently that Peer Bork, group leader in the Structural and Computational Biology Unit at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, will receive an award for his contributions to the advancement of science through the use of computational methods.

Bork was named Sept. 22 as the recipient of the fourth annual Royal Society and Académie des sciences Microsoft Award, presented for his work to discover important relationships between the nature of the human microbiome—the union of all microorganisms that live in and around the human body—and various human parameters, such as age, ethnicity, diseases, nutrition, and genetics.

Bork's research is frequently being published in journals such as Nature, Science and Cell.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

"We think the system is going to fall apart of its own weight," says Thomas Leonard, a university librarian at UC Berkeley, about the traditional publishing system. Inside Higher Ed reports on a new development towards better support for Open Access journals:

On Monday, five leading universities announced a new "Compact for Open Access Publishing Equity" in which they have pledged to develop systems to pay open access journals for the articles they publish by the institutions' scholars. In doing so, the institutions are attempting to put to rest the idea that only older publication models (paid and/or print) can support rigorous peer review and quality assurance.

The five universities that have joined the agreement so far are MIT, Harvard, Cornell, UC Berkeley and Dartmouth College.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

In "Real Lives and White Lies in the Funding of Scientific Research" (published on September 15th in PLoS Biology) Peter A Lawrence offers his perspective on the challenges that many (early career) scientists are facing when trying to secure funding for their (first) lab or research group. He discusses the impact of the current system on careers and science itself and argues for a simplified system.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

This is an International Consortium of Stem Cell Networks (ICSCN) event hosted by Scottish Stem Cell Network. This international two day event has attracted some of the field's most prominent figures and will cover disease modelling in stem cells, cellular reprogramming and application of bioinformatics. URL: http://www.sscn.co.uk/Item.aspx?dept_id=138&item_id=225

Monday, September 14, 2009

The goal of the workshop is to bring together, for the first time, researchers developing and using visualization systems across all areas of biology, including genomics, sequence analysis, macromolecular structures, systems biology, and imaging (including microscopy and magnetic resonance imaging). We have assembled an authoritative list of 29 invited speakers who will present an exciting program, reviewing the state-of-the-art and perspectives in each of these areas. The primary focus will be on visualizing processed and annotated data in their biological context, rather than on processing of raw data.

The workshop is limited in the total number participants, and each participant is normally required to present a poster and to give a 'fastforward' presentation about their work (limited to 30 seconds and 1 slide).

To apply to join the workshop, please go to http://vizbi.org and submit an abstract and image related to your work. Submissions close on 16 November 2009. Since places are limited, participants will be selected based on the relevance of their work to the goals of the workshop.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent within three weeks after the close of submissions.

We plan to award a prize for the submitted image that best conveys a strong scientific message in a visually compelling manner.

Please forward this announcement to anyone who may be interested. We hope to see you in Heidelberg next spring!

Seán O'Donoghue, EMBL

Jim Procter, University of Dundee

Nils Gehlenborg, European Bioinformatics Institute

Reinhard Schneider, EMBL

If you have any questions about the registration process please contact:

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

AMIA is now accepting abstract submissions to present at the 2010 Summit on Translational Bioinformatics, which will take place March 10-12 in San Francisco, CA. Submissions will be accepted on the AMIA website through September 24, 2009. For more information on this event or to download the Call for Participation please visit http://summit2010.amia.org.URL: http://summit2010.amia.org

Friday, August 21, 2009

Keystone Symposia offers scholarship and travel awards to student and postdoc conference attendees. Historically, Keystone Symposia has awarded an average of one-third of all scholarship applicants. Scholarship and abstract submission deadlines are typically four months prior to the start date of a meeting. With many deadlines fast approaching, take a look at our 2009-2010 conference schedule and obtain information on specific meeting deadlines: www.keystonesymposia.org/2010meetings . In addition to scholarships, student registration rates are also discounted by up to 35% (verification of student status must be provided at the time of registration). Please visit www.keystonesymposia.org/Minority for more information on scholarships and how to apply.

Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology is an educational nonprofit organization that convenes open, international meetings in the biomedical and life sciences. Based on a rigorous peer review process and held in stimulating venues, the conferences provide valuable opportunities for scientists to share their ideas and results with their peers across different disciplines, forge new research collaborations, receive mentoring and support, and ultimately accelerate the pace of their research efforts.

Keystone Symposia has a vision for enhancing the participation of traditional U.S. visible ethnic minority scientists attending its conferences, as well as in the broader life sciences field. It is our belief that a more diverse research community will contribute to a broader, more dynamic perspective at the level of laboratory research where critical judgments are made. Often bringing together converging fields, resulting in stimulating interactions, the conferences are offered in multiple disciplines including:

There are also many career-enhancing opportunities for attendees including the chance to:

• network with world-class scientists • participate in scientific inquiry • obtain mentoring regarding career decision-making and career path progression • learn effective networking techniques • learn how to utilize networks in the planning, development and attainment of your career goals

Since speakers for short talks are selected on the basis of abstract submission, you have an excellent opportunity to gain exposure for your work via our abstract book, at a poster session and possibly through a short talk.

Achieving success and accomplishing your career goals in the life sciences requires action to see the results. Take action; visit our website to find deadline information and apply for scholarships. URL: http://www.keystonesymposia.org

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

"About the Database:A biosystem, or biological system, is a group of molecules that interact in a biological system. One type of biosystem is a biological pathway, which can consist of interacting genes, proteins, and small molecules. Another type of biosystem is a disease, which can involve components such as genes, biomarkers, and drugs. more..."

The advent of the Human Genome Project and the development of faster, cheaper DNA sequencing revolutionised medical and biological research - and the technology is still evolving. Mun-Keat Looi looks at the platforms pushing us closer toward the ‘$1000 genome’."......

Thursday, July 30, 2009

RECOMB is partnering with PLoS Computational Biology and Journal of Computational Biology; selections of accepted papers will be invited for submission of full journal versions to special issues. These papers will also appear in the proceedings.

RECOMB is adding a highlights track which will feature PI presentations of exciting developments that have already appeared in journals within the past year. This will be modeled after the successful ISMB highlights track.

RECOMB is adding special sessions on emerging areas including Genomics in Medicine and Regulatory RNAs.

Following the regular program of the Neural Information Processing Systems 2009 conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada, up to four mini-symposia will be held in parallel during the afternoon of December 10, 2009, in the Hyatt Regency, Vancouver, BC, Canada. We invite researchers interested in chairing a mini-symposium to submit proposals.

The goal of the mini-symposia is to present topical material on a single theme, well suited to the main conference audience. Controversial issues, emerging topics, open problems, and comparisons of competing approaches are not only encouraged but preferred as symposium topics. Representation of alternative viewpoints are also particularly encouraged. Possible topics for symposia include, but are not limited to:

Each of the four mini-symposia will run for three hours in the afternoon of December 10 after the end of the main conference. Organizers may consider proposing a mini-symposium in conjunction with a one- or two-day workshop proposed to be held subsequently in Whistler. In such a case proposers should take into account the more polished nature of the symposium, and, as the attendees might differ, should ensure that each stands alone programmatically.

Detailed descriptions of previous symposia and workshops can be found at http://nips.cc/Conferences/2008/. We encourage neuroscience-related proposals, and are especially interested in those bridging areas of neuroscience and machine learning. Selected mini-symposia may be invited to submit proceedings for publication in the post-NIPS workshops monographs series published by the MIT Press.

More details and instructions for submission of proposals may be found online at http://nips.cc/Conferences/2009/CallForMiniSymposia. Proposals must be received by August 28, 2009.

Centers for Membrane Protein Structure Determination (U54) RFA-GM-10-006: "Purpose. This FOA solicits applications to establish Centers for Membrane Protein Structure Determination that will become a vital component in fulfilling the expanded goals of the NIGMS PSI:Biology network for high-throughput-enabled structural biology. Awardee principal investigators will become part of the PSI:Biology Network Steering Committee and will work jointly with other investigators and NIH staff to manage the overall PSI:Biology initiative."

Consortia for High-Throughput-Enabled Structural Biology Partnerships (U01) RFA-GM-10-007 "Purpose. This FOA solicits proposals to establish partnerships between researchers interested in a biological problem of significant scope and researchers providing high-throughput structure determination capabilities through the NIGMS PSI:Biology network. Applicants to this FOA should propose work to solve a substantial biological problem for which the determination of many protein structures is necessary. The proteins should be amenable to high-throughput structure determination and/or should provide suitable targets to motivate new technology development. Awardee principal investigators will become part of the PSI:Biology Network Steering Committee and will work jointly with other investigators and NIH staff to manage the overall PSI:Biology initiative."

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Find out how biomedical engineers, mathematicians, physicists, and biologists use computers to answer important health-related questions in a free science education booklet called Computing Life.

The booklet features short articles, colorful graphics, and fun sidebars that highlight the different roles of computers and related advances in medical research. It also introduces science students to potential new career opportunities.

Here's a sampling of what you'll find in the free booklet: • Overviews of biomedical research areas relying on computing and math • Short, clear descriptions of current research projects • Profiles of people conducting the work • Callout boxes with trivia and activities • Links to animations and other resources.

Plus, visit the Web site (http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/computinglife) every month to find new research advances, interviews, interactive games, and multimedia or to order a free copy of the printed booklet.

Computing Life is part of a growing collection of free science education materials available from NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences. These printed and online resources focus on medically relevant life sciences. You can preview, download, and order them via the "More Publications" link at the top of the Computing Life home page. Printed materials are available individually or in classroom sets.

For questions or feedback, contact Computing Life editor Emily Carlson at carlsone@nigms.nih.gov.

Monday, July 27, 2009

"PRESIDENT OBAMA has nominated Francis Collins to be the next director of the National Institutes of Health. It would seem a brilliant choice. Dr. Collins’s credentials are impeccable: he is a physical chemist, a medical geneticist and the former head of the Human Genome Project. He is also, by his own account, living proof that there is no conflict between science and religion. In 2006, he published “The Language of God,” in which he claimed to demonstrate “a consistent and profoundly satisfying harmony” between 21st-century science and evangelical Christianity".....more

"Computers are evolving – literally. While the tech world argues netbooks vs notebooks, synthetic biologists are leaving traditional computers behind altogether. A team of US scientists have engineered bacteria that could solve complex mathematical problems faster than anything made from silicon.

The research, published today in the Journal of Biological Engineering, proves that bacteria can be used to solve a puzzle known as the Hamiltonian Path Problem. ....."

We kindly invite you to participate and/or present a poster at MLSB-09, the 3rd International Workshop on Machine Learning in Systems Biology. The workshop aims to contribute to the cross-fertilization between the research in machine learning methods and their applications to systems biology. The program of the workshop will include 6 invited talks by renowned researchers and 12 oral presentations of reviewed contributions (see http://mlsb09.ijs.si/program.html for details). It will also include a poster session: Abstracts for poster presentations can be submitted by 3 AUG 2009.The Workshop is organized as "core - event" of PASCAL2, Network of Excellence in Pattern Analysis, Statistical Modelling and Computational Learning (http://www.pascal-network.org/) The workshop will take place 5-6 September 2009 at the Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia. It will immediately precede ECML PKDD 2009, taking place 7-11 September 2009 in Bled, Slovenia (Bled is 30 miles from Ljublj ana, transport will be organized).Saso Dzeroski, Pierre Geurts and Juho Rousu MLSB-09 Chairs (on behalf of the MLSB-09 organizers) URL: http://mlsb09.ijs.si/

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a fast and efficient way to determine the structure of proteins, shortening a process that often takes years into a matter of days.

2010 NAS Award in Molecular BiologyDate: Jul 20, 2009The National Academy of Sciences is currently accepting nominations for the 2010 NAS Award in Molecular Biology.

The award is presented to recognize recent notable discovery in molecular biology by a young scientist who is a citizen of the United States. Presented with a prize of $25,000, some recent recipients include Stephen P. Bell, Angelika Amon, and Xiaodong Wang.

SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development organization, has announced that SRI's Center for Cancer Research was selected by the National Cancer Institute for a leading role in the newly-formed "Chemical Biology Consortium" , a collaborative drug discovery partnership focused on advancing new cancer therapeutics active ...

U. S. Senators Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg announced today announced $696,832 in federal funding for the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need or GAANN Program at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. This will help 19 graduate students in financial need over three years continue their education in pursuit of advanced degrees. The grants are being awarded in the areas of Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Computational Biology and Molecular Biophysics, and Pharmaceutical Engineering. ......"

The collaboration will improve technology access in the countryFlickr/amanky[BOGOTA] Microsoft's research arm has signed an agreement with the Colombian government to boost the use of information technologies in science research in the hope of triggering new scientific activity.

Under the agreement, signed this month (1 July) by Microsoft Research and the Colombian Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (Colciencias), Colombian research centres will receive cheap licensing for Microsoft software and graduate students will be offered internships at any of the six Microsoft Research centres worldwide.

Microsoft Research will also get involved in the establishment of a bioinformatics research centre in Colombia, an initiative started by the government to classify information about the country's biodiversity with a view to becoming a global centre........

Deadlines for FP7 are coming and going all the time. Don't miss an opportunity to make your proposal competitive and innovative. Join us for three days at our Proposal Preparation in FP7 course and enhance your chances of FP7 success!

A 2-day intensive training course designed to provide project managers, administrators and financial personnel with the skills needed to successfully implement FP7 projects; personal interaction between participants and Europe's leading project managers provides efficiency that other programmes are unable to match.

What is the Commission looking for? How can your organisation make the most of FP7 opportunities? What can you do to make your proposal more innovative? Where is FP7 going to take you in the coming years?

Amsterdam, 20 July 2009 – Elsevier, the leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announces the ‘Article of the Future’ project, an ongoing collaboration with the scientific community to redefine how a scientific article is presented online. The project takes full advantage of online capabilities, allowing readers individualized entry points and routes through content, while exploiting the latest advances in visualization techniques.

The Article of the Future launches its first prototypes this week, revealing a new approach to presenting scientific research online. The key feature of the prototypes is a hierarchical presentation of text and figures so that readers can elect to drill down through the layers based on their current task in the scientific workflow and their level of expertise and interest. This organizational structure is a significant departure from the linear-based organization of a traditional print-based article in incorporating the core text and supplemental material within a single unified structure.

A second key feature of the prototypes is bulleted article highlights and a graphical abstract. This allows readers to quickly gain an understanding of the paper’s main ‘take home’ message and serves as a navigation mechanism to directly access specific sub-sections of the results and figures. The graphical abstract is intended to encourage browsing, promote interdisciplinary scholarship and help readers identify more quickly which papers are most relevant to their research interests.

Emilie Marcus, Editor in Chief, Cell Press commented, “The genesis of the ‘Article of the Future’ project came from a challenge to redesign from scratch how to most effectively structure and present the content of a traditional scientific article in an online environment. The rapid pace of technological advancements means this will undoubtedly be an evolving design, but we are happy to be able to address some key reader and author pain points such as the integration of supplemental data with these initial prototypes. We are tremendously excited that authors contributing to Cell Press journals will have the opportunity to pioneer this new concept and make a significant contribution to its development.”

The prototypes have been developed by the editorial, production and IT teams at Cell Press in collaboration with Elsevier’s User Centered Design group using content from two previously published Cell articles. They can be viewed at http://beta.cell.com where Elsevier and Cell Press are inviting feedback from the scientific community on the concepts and implementations. Successful ideas from this project will ultimately be rolled-out across Elsevier’s portfolio of 2,000 journals available on ScienceDirect.

“Together with the 2009 Elsevier Grand Challenge, the ‘Article of the Future’ project forms part of Elsevier’s commitment to collaborating with our scientific community on Content Innovation. Sharing these prototypes and inviting feedback is the next step,” remarked IJsbrand Jan Aalbersberg, Vice President of Content Innovation for Elsevier Science & Technology Journal Publishing, “We are confident that these tools will enhance the presentation of scientific results and improve the interpretation and speed of results analysis. They are central to driving innovation in scientific publishing and represent our investment in the future of research, enabling scientists all over the world to access, interpret, and create better science more efficiently.”

# # #

Notes to Editors:The Article of the Future prototype can be viewed at http://beta.cell.com where Elsevier is inviting scientific community feedback on the concept.

The Elsevier Grand Challenge is a contest created to improve the way scientific information is communicated and used. The contest invites members of the scientific community to describe and prototype a tool to improve the interpretation and identification of meaning in (online) journals and text databases relating to the life sciences.

About ElsevierElsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier’s 7,000 employees in over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect, MD Consult, Scopus, bibliographic databases, and online reference works.

Elsevier is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc, a world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

About Cell Press Cell Press, an imprint of Elsevier, is committed to improving scientific communication through the publication of exciting research and reviews. Each of our titles is viewed as a must-read by the scientific community it serves. Cell Press primary research journals include the flagship journal Cell, as well as Neuron, Immunity, Molecular Cell, Developmental Cell, Cancer Cell, Current Biology, Structure, Chemistry & Biology, Cell Metabolism, Cell Host & Microbe, Cell Stem Cell, and, new to Cell Press, Biophysical Journal, and The American Journal of Human Genetics. Cell Press also publishes the Trends family of reviews journals, including Trends in Cell Biology, Trends in Neurosciences, and Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

South African scientists will gain access to the latest thinking in molecular biology research through an agreement announced today by the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). The Government of the Republic of South Africa signed a cooperation agreement with the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC), the intergovernmental funding body for EMBO, allowing scientists from South Africa to participate in EMBO programmes and activities. The agreement also provides for some EMBO activities to occur in South Africa.

EMBO Life Sciences Mobility Portal posts targeted information for reciprocal career development and funding opportunities between South Africa and Europe.

Bioinformatics researchers at ISMB said the field is facing increasing demands from large-scale experiments including a rising need for integrative tools and services, and better cooperation between experimentalists and bioinformaticians.

Hinxton, Cambridge, UK (OBBeC) - Researchers have published the complete genome sequence of the Schistosoma mansoni, a parasitic worm – commonly known as a blood fluke – that causes devastating disease. The World Health Organization ranks schistosomiasis as a neglected disease of the poor, affecting 210 million people in 76 countries, and each year causing 280,000 deaths in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

Phoenix, AZ (OBBeC) - According to a report from Translational Genomics Research Institute (Tgen), a partnership between Luxembourg and the Institute has begun with the arrival of a new CEO and the advent of a new building for the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg (IBBL).

This initiative (https://www.grants4targets.com/scripts/pages/en/index.php) intends to support collaborative research projects on attractive, novel molecular targets in the fields ofOncology, Cardiology, Gynecology,...

Call for Proposals for the Pilot Project: (http://scholarship-positions.com/scholarships-for-masters-and-phd-candidates-from-africa-brazil-and-germany/2009/05/07/#ixzz0FNVNG5XF&B) Future Trilateral Cooperation within the scope of cooperation in higher education between...

Over the years, healthcare organizations have had to respond to many different changes – from advances in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to the emergence of concepts such as managed care and telemedicine. Healthcare is fast becoming one of the most competitive and value added industries worldwide with many technology driven developments in diagnosis, treatment, care provision, patient monitoring and healthcare infrastructure.

The way biological systems were perceived was changed almost five decades ago by Watson and Crick with their identification of the DNA double helix. Since then, enormous advances have been made in molecular biology in the understanding of biological processes such as disease, evolution, heredity and development on a molecular basis.

Program DescriptionThe Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology supports research and research training in areas that join biology with the computer sciences, engineering, mathematics, and physics. Toward this end, the center develops and manages programs in computational biology, such as the generation of mathematical models of biological networks, the development of modeling and simulation tools, the conduct of basic theoretical studies related to network organization and dynamic processes, and the development of methods for the analysis and dissemination of computational models. The center also defines the Institute's needs for database development and applications, and it collaborates with other NIH components and Federal agencies in developing policies in this area. Other center activities include the support of multidisciplinary collaborations and of workshops, courses, and specialized meetings.

This initiative (https://www.grants4targets.com/scripts/pages/en/index.php) intends to support collaborative research projects on attractive, novel molecular targets in the fields ofOncology, Cardiology, Gynecology,...

Call for Proposals for the Pilot Project: (http://scholarship-positions.com/scholarships-for-masters-and-phd-candidates-from-africa-brazil-and-germany/2009/05/07/#ixzz0FNVNG5XF&B) Future Trilateral Cooperation within the scope of cooperation in higher education between...